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87
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1 Report of Meeting for Sufferings, held in London 2016-02-06
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2
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3 *Introduction*
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4
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5 During our opening worship, extracts from the Epistle [1] of the Friends
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6 World Committee for Consultation World Plenary meeting held in Pisac,
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7 Peru, 19-27 January 2016, includng these words:
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8
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9 Although God can fill our hearts, God has no hands but ours to heal
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10 this broken world. [2]
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11
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12 *Annual budget*
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13
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14 Church Government Advisory Group declined to suggest any changes to
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15 Quaker Faith and Practice as regards how our annual budget is
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16 determined, as QF&P is about general principles, rather than detailed
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17 specifications which would require too-frequent updates. We agreed
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18 with this, and heard, with respect to documenting the current budget
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19 process, that the "Operational Plan" is the current core of the
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20 process, but this changes too often to be usefully documented, even
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21 informally.
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22
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23 *Refugee sponsorship*
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24
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25 At first several statements of support were made for asking Quaker
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26 Peace and Social Witness to lend our names to the Citizens UK effort
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27 to encourage the government's consideration of a Private Sponsorship
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28 system. However, "serious reservations [were also] expressed both
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29 about the scheme itself and the impact this could have on existing
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30 work with and services for refugees." [3] QPS&W are initiating efforts
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31 to clarify both the status of the organisation so far taking the lead
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32 in this, Citizens UK, and the position of the main charities already
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33 envolved in supporting refugees and asylum seekers.
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34
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35 Our representatives are aware of considerable interest within the Area
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36 Meeting in participating in such a scheme, and will actively monitor
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37 QPS&W's progress in this area.
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38
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39 *Yearly Meeting 2016*
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40
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41 Yearly Meeting will be in London, 27--30 May 2016. We are requested
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42 to register [4] and to make use of the Spiritual Preparation for
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43 Yearly Meeting guide [5]. Area Meeting Elders will shortly be
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44 publicising two local sessions for those considering attending Yearly
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45 Meeting, to provide an introduction and support for those considering
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46 doing so for the first time, and to work with the two parts of the
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47 preparation guide.
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48
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49 *Vision: Our Faith in the Future*
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50
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51 Scottish and Welsh representatives met in a 'house group' to return to
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52 the new Vision document [6] and our consideration of the state of our
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53 Area Meetings. A few of the comments that stayed with me:
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54
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55 * Meeting for Worship for Business -- "A Meeting for Worship with an agenda"
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56
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57 * "Right Ordering" -- in life as well as in our Meeting for Worship for Business
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58
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59 * Membership (historically) implied accepting the Discipline, does
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60 it still? What obligations does Membership carry with it?
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61
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62 * Concerns need to be at least 3/4s baked -- AMs are told if they
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63 send something to Sufferings, they have to be clear what they are
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64 asking Sufferings to _do_. Likewise if an LM sends a concern to
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65 AM, they should be clear what endorsing it _means_ in
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66 practice. "I don't want AMs just dropping a dead pigeon on the
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67 doorstep of Friends House".
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68
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69 Henry S. Thompson, Area Meeting representative on Meeting for Sufferings
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70
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71 [1] http://fwcc.world/plenary-2016/epistle-from-2016-friends-world-committee-for-consultation-world-plenary-international-representatives-meeting
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72 [2] A paraphrase of part of a poem attributed, controversially, to
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73 St. Teresa of Avila, _Christ Has No Body_
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74 [3] http://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-feb-2016-agenda-papers-final-minutes-package.pdf
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75 [4] https://forms.quaker.org.uk/bym/
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76 [5] https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/ym-2016-spiritual-preparation.pdf
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77 [6] http://old.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/meeting-for-sufferings/our-faith-in-the-future
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